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Kansas Counties

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Kansas Counties

Kansas has 105 counties, the sixth-highest total of any state. No Kansas county has two words in its name. Wyandotte County and the city of Kansas City operate as a unified government, and Greeley County and the city of Tribune are in the process of converting to a similar system.

Linn County, Kansas

Linn County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Mound City
Year Organized: 1855
Square Miles: 710

Court House:

P.O. Box 350
County Courthouse
Mound City, KS 66056-0350

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for Lewis F. Linn, a distinguished United States Senator from Missouri, who died in 1843, in office. He was a colleague of Hon. Thos. H, Benton

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Linn County, situated in the eastern tier, next to the Missouri state line, and in the third tier south of the Kansas river, was one of the original 33 counties created by the first territorial legislature, with the following boundaries: "Beginning at the southeast corner of Lykins (now Miami) county; thence south 24 miles; thence west 24 miles; thence north 24 miles; thence east 24 miles to the place of beginning."

It was named Linn in honor of Lewis F. Linn, a United States senator from Missouri. In 1868 the boundaries were redefined as follows: "Commencing at the southeast corner of Miami county; thence south along the west boundary of the State of Missouri to the corner on said line to fractional sections 13 and 24, township 23 south, of range 25 east; thence west along the section lines to the corner of sections 14, 15, 22 and 23, township 23 south of range 21 east; thence north along the section lines between the second and third tiers of sections to the southwest corner of Miami county; thence east along the south boundary of said Miami county to the place of beginning."

By this act a strip, varying in width from a half mile at the northwest corner of the county to nearly a mile and a half at the southwest corner, was added to the west side of the county and the area increased to 637 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Miami county, on the east by the State of Missouri, on the south by Bourbon county, and on the west by Anderson county

Geography

The general surface of the county is undulating, rather broken in the eastern part, and about one-tenth is too rough for cultivation. One-fifth is rich bottom land, very fertile and productive. The upland or rolling prairie is generally from 50 to 80 feet above the valleys, the highest elevation being Silver Hill, near the Marias des Cygnes, which rises to a height of 300 feet above the river. The timber belts along the streams are usually nearly as wide as the valleys, the principal varieties being black walnut, oak, sycamore, hickory, cottonwood, ash, box-elder and elm. The most important water course is the Marias des Cygnes, which crosses the northern boundary a little east of the middle and flows in a southeasterly direction, crossing the eastern boundary a little north of the center.

Description

Linn County is one of the most naturally beautiful and historically significant counties in Kansas. It is particularly well known for its pre-Civil War and Civil War history, which earned this area the name "Bleeding Kansas."

Linn County was home to the original Kansas Jayhawkers, the site of the Marais des Cygnes Massacre, one of the triggers of the Civil War, and the location of the only Civil War battlefield in Kansas.

The confluence of the Marais des Cygnes River and Big Sugar Creek resulted in natural wetlands which are now protected as a wildlife refuge.

The county is now experiencing rapid growth due to its proximity to the Kansas City metropolitan area, and to the US 69 corridor which runs through the eastern part of the county.

Neighboring Counties:

Miami County - North
State of Missouri - East
Bourbon County - South
Anderson County - West

Cities and Towns:

- Blue Mound	city	Incorporated Area
- Centerville	township
- La Cygne	city	Incorporated Area
- Linn Valley	city	Incorporated Area
- Mound City (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Paris	township
- Parker	city	Incorporated Area
- Pleasanton	city	Incorporated Area
- Potosi	township
- Prescott	city	Incorporated Area
- Scott	township
- Sheridan	township
- Stanton	township
- Valley	township

County Resources:

Linn County - KS-Cyclopedia - 1912

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."